The Confrontation
by No Spare Words
Summary: The confrontation at the City of Ancients, adapted and stylized. Rated for mild to moderate language and violence. (Short Story. Not good with summaries;read it) R&R plzzz
1. City of the Ancients

Don't own FFVII or anything. Yup...

Uhh...about this fic...i had the urge to write this for a while, and even though it wouldn't come out too well because the ending of an awesome game is something to be reckoned with, I thought I'd give it a shot. Only hardcore fans will get the idea about what is going on, prolly, but that isn't to say that this short story is exclusive only for those ppl. Anyone can enjoy it, so...enjoy?

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**City of the Ancients**

**What is that chanting?**

"Hey, guys! Do you hear that too?" Cloud looked at Tifa and Barret.

"Yeah, but where do you think it's coming from?" Answered Tifa.

"What the fuck does it matter? If you keep concentrating on it, it'll only mess things up even more," said Barret.

Every one of them was shaky. Ever since they've stepped into this place, it seemed as though the wall themselves have been chanting. Or maybe it's in their heads. Even Barret was more up-tight and foul-mouthed than usual.

"Hey, Cloud, How much longer 'til we can fuckin' leave?!" Asked Barret through a mouth that was little more than a pale slit now.

"When we find Aeris, we can go."

But that doesn't mean that they were bold in coming here. Sure, this was the most important thing in their agenda, but they all expected a dark figure to appear out of the corner of their eye. And every passing instant that that figure didn't appear made the chanting from the walls louder and louder.

The ashen white floor was flaky under their feet. How could a place like this exist? Completely deserted…. How did they get here? When Cloud tried to recall how to get out, he couldn't. Maybe there was no way out. Maybe the place forbade them to go.

In that last village, Cloud was sure to ask about this place. "City of the Ancients," it was called. But no one seemed to know how to get there. Only by chance did that light appear at the end of the forest. Or maybe it wasn't chance at all.

And now the damn walls wouldn't stop singing.


	2. Aeris

Hi again...the chapters are turning out short because this was originally meant to be a short story, and i was arguing with myself about whether to make the whole thing one long chapter..but that would be long and monotonous, so i split it into smaller sections....

Well...Chapter 2:

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**Aeris**

"_I'll take care of it," she said. "Don't you worry." What the hell was she thinking?! Letting Sephiroth have you is fixing it?! She knows better!_

The farther into the labyrinth they traveled, the louder the chanting became. It sounded like a chorus was repeating the same thing over and over again.

_ Sephiroth wants to destroy the world. _

_ No…that's not true. Sephiroth wants to be God. Destroying the world just happens to go along with that. A perk. A perk? What will he be God of if his whole plan about summoning Meteor succeeds? What is his purpose?_

_ We agreed that we would fight him together. Why did she get into his way alone? _

They've been running for a while. The path slowly began to rotate into itself, resembling an ominous downwards spiral.

Cloud was pretty sure that he could recite the verse that he was hearing from the walls.

Finally, the path stopped spiraling. They were heading in a straight line. The chanting was deafening in their heads, yet at the same time, it was barely audible. Then the floor of ash began giving way to a more solid limestone as the walls opened outwards into a structure that resembled an enormous stadium. Its size was magnificent. The group's jog slowed to a steady pace as they examined their surroundings.

In front of them were little bridges that seemed to lead from one oversized stepping stone to the next, eventually ending in a stage-like circular surface. Surprisingly enough, there was water under the bridge. But it seemed to be flowing…upstream? The floor was on a tilt, and there was no doubt about it; The water was flowing upstream. Tifa and Cloud came up to examine it, but there was something strange about it. It was uncommonly murky, and it was giving off a bright-green aura. They both looked into the water, but they couldn't see their reflections in it.

Barret seemed to have noticed something, because he ran up to them and threw them both down into a trench-like structure and laid down next to them, not giving them more time to examine the green water.

When Cloud's eyes met his, Barret pointed to the other end of the stadium. At first Cloud couldn't see it, so he looked even higher. And there he was in plain sight.

None other but Sephiroth himself was on a precipice overlooking the entire floor. He was looking at something very intently, but Cloud couldn't make it out, so he inched forward to figure out what was so important to him.

On the circular stage to which the stepping stones led, there seemed to be a brightly colored statue with long, brown hair, and a pink dress.

_No. Not a statue._

_Aeris.

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_

Seriously, how do you indent....?_  
_


	3. Sephiroth

Another short chapter for this short story...next one should be longer!

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Then they ran. Cloud threw himself out of the trench, and the others had no choice but to follow. It was insanity; He was letting himself fall into a trap that wasn't even concealed from plain sight, and his friends were forced to follow. But he had no choice and he admitted that to himself the moment he stepped foot into this place. All the while, he knew that Sephiroth saw him, and that only made him run faster.

When he was finally in reach of her, Cloud put his hand on Aeris's shoulder and gently tugged, containing his anxiety. She stopped chanting. The walls stopped chanting. She turned her head and smiled. There were bags under her eyes, and her hair was a mess. It seems that she was doing this since she left two days ago.

"Uhh, Aeris," said Barret, "We should probably go because Seph-"

Tifa punched him in the stomach.

Aeris closed her eyes, "I know he is here. He was supposed to be here, and this was how it was supposed to happen. Except you shouldn't have come here."

_We have no time for this bullshit. She's talking nonsense. None of us should be here._

Cloud grabbed Aeris and threw her over his shoulder. "Sorry, Aeris, but this isn't how it's going to happen. We will drag him down from his cloud, but not at your expense."

She tried to fight, but Aeris could barely lift her arms to protest.

Tifa and Barret followed Cloud as he began making his way back the way they came.

As they were running, Cloud heard Barret's gun-arm click, but he was unexpectedly thrown away by whatever he was about to fire at. Seconds later, Tifa went flying as well. They both hit the far walls of the stadium causing them to crack, and then they fell to the floor, motionless. Cloud was in shock.

He turned around to see if who he thought was there was really there, and his suspicions were confirmed. A small distance from him, Sephiroth was sinking down to the ground from above, with a sinister smile across his face. He got them...

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R&R! 


	4. The Confrontation

Cloud looked into Sephiroth's eyes as he began to speak.

"Place her on the ground."

"What do you want with her?" Said Cloud in a tone that sounded slightly more anxious than he would have preferred.

He smiled grimly. "To kill her. Place her on the ground now."

Sephiroth tightened his grip on his sword, and let his eyes bore a hole into Cloud's head.

Cloud, holding his ground, straightened his back as much as he could and scowled.

"No."

Sephiroth looked at Aeris.

"She wants you to. Can't you see it? Just put her on the ground and step away. You don't want it to end like _this_, do you? It's not fair."

Cloud shook his head slowly, and as soon as he did so, he felt Aeris's body being lifted into the air. He tried to hold her down, but she was ripped up from him anyway. Sephiroth's grin grew all the more frightful as Aeris was dropped down to the ground and he began advancing towards her. Cloud unsheathed his blade.

"Hurt her, and you won't live to enjoy yourself."

Sephiroth stopped, amused. "What will you do? Cut me? Make me bleed?" He began to circle around Aeris, his eyes set on Cloud. "Kill me, even?"

"Cloud, don't…." Aeris's voice resonated within Cloud's own head, "Don't do this…you'll _die_!"

Cloud stepped back, and ran at Sephiroth, his blade behind his back, ready to swing. He was almost on him, when Cloud froze. He couldn't move his feet forward. He couldn't cover himself. He couldn't move his arms.

Sephiroth simply stared at him. "…Well? Weren't you going to…destroy me? What happened?" He began to laugh. "Cloud, don't you see? You shouldn't have come here! You shouldn't have dragged your friends into your wild plan." He lifted his hand and punched Cloud in the face, causing him to fall over. Then he drew his blade, and paced back to Aeris. "This is your time."

Sephiroth raised his sword in the air.

Cloud saw Aeris's smile in his head, with blood trickling from her lip from when Sephiroth dropped her on the ground.

Sephiroth closed his eyes, indulging in his moment of victory.

Aeris slowly turned herself over, so that she could look at Sephiroth.

Cloud concentrated all of his strength in moving his limbs, but to no avail.

Tifa and Barret slowly came to consciousness, with their eyes opening to the unfolding execution.

And that's when the blade fell.

_NOOOOO!_

Everyone felt her pain. Cloud regained control of his body just as blood began to flow from Aeris's wound. Barret instinctively raised his gun-arm and let the bullets rip through the air towards Sephiroth. Tifa winced and could barely move from the pain.

Aeris's mouth was frozen in a forced smile, trying to hide the pain.

Sephiroth was still, his job done.

Cloud got up. "You son of a bitch, I'll have your fucking head!" He lunged at Sephiroth, and fell right through him onto the floor. In a moment, he got up again, and tried slashing him again, but to no avail. Sephiroth hasn't moved since he stabbed Aeris, and nothing Cloud could do could hurt him.

Tears came to his eyes as he continued to slash the air. Nothing.

Then, as if he wasn't there at all, Sephiroth was gone. Cloud continued to slash out of frustration, until he finally fell to his knees. It was over. Sephiroth had won. Aeris was dead.


End file.
